Mandala Resort Hotel

Hi All,

The population of Kathmandu only feels like 10 million.  A book shop owner told us 5 million and the restaurant manager told us less than 3 million.  But a UNESCO report I found on the web predicted 2.5 million bu 2020.  I don’t know if our guide was wrong or we misunderstood what he had said.  Napalese English and New England and Virginia English are not always the same.  However, Virginians can always understand other Virginians.  Yesterday while our guide and I were learning about Thanka (maybe spelled wrong) painting, Randal was waiting outside the shop.  He met a group of Americans and asked where they were from and they said Virginia Tech.  I forget exactly how the story goes but Randal was asked to say "y’all" and the Tech professor immediated guessed he was from Roanoke.  Small world.

  Today we visited a half dozen book shops along the road near our hotel.  Lots of young western tourists and lots of funky shops and restaurants.  We ran into one of our Tibet tour buddies David.  He works in the Netherlands as an aeronautical engineer and is on a 7 month vacation!  He and Ron were really good tour mates.

     At dinner tonight we had a brief conversation with a woman our age who just finished 3 years in Tibet as a health aid worker for an Australian government project.  Randal struck up a conversation with her as we waited to pay our bill and she waited for her food.

I’m sitting in the hall of our hotel to use the computer.  I can hear a group of people who must be watching the FIFA games because they just let out a cheer.

  Tomorrow is our last full day here and then we leave on the 4th.

Ru